# The Desert Tortoise Conservancy

To insure that the species does not become extinct, and that sustainable populations survive in the wild. Our goal is to preserve, protect and perpetuate the desert tortoise.

## Organization facts

- **Organization:** The Desert Tortoise Conservancy
- **Legal name:** DESERT TORTOISE CONSERVANCY INC
- **Organization type:** 501(c)(3) nonprofit
- **EIN:** 90-0838402
- **IRS 501(c)(3) ruling:** 2012
- **Headquarters:** Palm Springs, California
- **Primary cause:** Animals
- **CV Giving Day status:** 2026 participant
- **Official website:** https://deserttortoiseconservancy.org
- **Giving page:** https://www.mightycause.com/organization/save_the_desert_tortoise

## About The Desert Tortoise Conservancy

To insure that the species does not become extinct, and that sustainable populations survive in the wild. Our goal is to preserve, protect and perpetuate the desert tortoise. We will accomplish this by increasing public awareness of the plight of the tortoise, educating the public on the role humans have played and continue to play in the tortoise's decline, and work to modify those human behaviors such that tortoise populations stabilize and ultimately recover. North American desert tortoises have seen their natural populations decimated by development, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and other human-caused threats including chemical and hormonal pollution, gradual global warming, invasive alien species, various illnesses due to introduced pathogens, such as the upper respiratory tract disease and a number of other human-caused factors. Conservation International's President, Russell Mittermeier says: "Turtles have been around since before many dinosaurs walked the planet and have survived relatively unchanged for about 250 million years, but mankind's actions have brought them to the brink of extinction. It's our responsibility to bring them back."

TDTC intends to build an architecturally significant tortoise awareness center that will attract the public in large numbers. The center will be located in the Palm Springs, California area, which already hosts millions of tourists annually. The center will contain educational exhibits and displays, a theater airing educational films, a children's "petting" area where a naturalist will help children hold and learn about pet and wild tortoises, and a display looking into tortoise burrows so tortoises may be observed 365 days each year, even when brumating. The center will also have one or several trails where naturalists can point out tortoises, when out, borrows, and vegetation. We intend to provide a safe space in which desert tortoises needing re-homing may be dropped off and maintain temporary residency until their new permanent home is identified. Finally, it will contain a retail space where items may be purchased and donations made. Visitors will leave the facility with a new appreciation of the importance of protecting these animals, and how each of us can make a difference.

Visitors will learn that:

They should always cover garbage cans, in raven-proof containers, and to never litter.

That off-roaders must be required to stay on established paths/roads.

Not to poach wild tortoises.

Not to pick up or disturb tortoises in the wild.​ A tortoise often voids a year's worth of stored water when disturbed, and then dies of dehydration.

Not to return/place pets in the wild.

Not to breed tortoises

Not to let dogs run loose

## Record

- **Verified:** Identity confirmed against IRS records. Participation confirmed against CV Giving Day registration. Public information compiled from the organization's own sources. Organizations that have indicated a preference against search indexing on their CV Giving Day registration are excluded from search indexing and from this site's sitemap. A cause may come from the organization's own category selection, from its IRS classification, or from CV Giving Day review; the source is always stated on the page and in this record.
- **Participation years on record:** 2025, 2026
- **Years covered by our records:** 2025, 2026 (absence of a year does not mean the organization did not participate)
- **Last reviewed:** August 19, 2026
- **Canonical page:** https://www.cvgiving.org/nonprofits/the-desert-tortoise-conservancy/
- **Provided by:** Desert Community Foundation (501(c)(3), EIN 95-4725924)